


A Tale of Sand and Mud

by mweepigeon (mweep_inc)



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mweep_inc/pseuds/mweepigeon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All is well at Jade Mountain Academy. Except, of course, the fact that Carnelian got killed. And the emotional turmoil in Umber's mind doesn't really help either. Umber X Qibli</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Sand and Mud

 

Umber flew off from the cavern entrance and glided on the thermal updrafts, letting them carry him upwards. As the wind blew against his snout and wings and he began to circle above the mountain range, powerful wings carrying him ever higher, he let his thoughts wander. And as always, they went straight to Qibli. The mud colored dragon almost sighed out loud, mind visualizing his toned muscles, sandy colored scales, that devilish smile, and his deep, honey colored eyes. But Qibli never noticed  _ him,  _ no, the Sandwing only had eyes for Moonwatcher. 

Umber sighed and tucked his wings together into a dive, the morning mist blowing small droplets of water across his muzzle. Moon…  _ everyone  _ liked her, and no one ever noticed him. At least she had given all of them the skyfire now, he  _ really  _ didn’t need her knowing about his… infatuation… with Qibli. And there was nothing he could do about it! The more he tried  _ not  _ to think about Qibli, the more images of the gorgeous sand-colored dragon his mind conjured up.

The Mudwing’s claws skittered on the stone ground as he landed right outside the entrance to Jade Mountain Academy. He folded up his wings and walked inside, ducking his head slightly to avoid the low clearance level of the entryway. He passed his room, pausing as he walked by the empty cavern, and continued on to the library. 

Starflight heard him come in and greeted him by name, as Umber had become a frequent visitor ever since the school had opened. It wasn’t as much to study and read, though he  _ did  _ enjoy a good story, but instead just for a quiet place to think and rest. Umber nodded and dipped his head before remembering and vocalizing instead. Starflight was blind, had been that way since the island of the Nightwings was destroyed and abandoned.

He headed to the back of the room and let Starflight return to writing, threading his way through the many shelves of scrolls to a comfortable den area with a good amount of straw spread out on the stone flooring. Umber set himself down on the straw, curling his tail around himself and letting the natural warmth of the cave’s stone warm him up. Basking in the heat, he drifted off to sleep.

Once again, his dreams were filled with images of Qibli. Umber just couldn’t seem to forget about him, his form kept on flashing across his mind. His elegant body as he glided across the plains, his sand colored wings, smooth and powerful.

Not long after he had fallen asleep, a loud ringing woke the Mudwing up, signalling the start of today’s discussion session. Umber picked himself up and exited the library, heading for the classroom cavern that his Winglet was scheduled to be in for today’s classes.

When he walked into the classroom Qibli was already there, sitting on his pedestal-seat, curled up slightly, his wings folded protectively around his body. To Umber’s surprise, he managed to  _ not  _ stumble or gasp as he walked in, and managed to squeak out a quick hello, hoping that he didn’t sound weird today.

He hopped onto his seat and folded his wings around his snout to hide his blush, surreptitiously gazing at the Sandwing all the while. Qibli, after hearing his greeting, had turned and said hello in response, smiling gently at the curled up Mudwing. Umber flushed again and did his best to smile back, moving his wings away from his snout for a moment before replacing them. He didn’t want Qibli to see his blush. There was no way the Sandwing would reciprocate anyways, he had  _ seen _ his attention was directed towards Moon. Umber cleared his head of all hope. Getting crushed would hurt more than not trying. And yet… 

The rest of their Winglet walked in, Kinkajou chattering with Moon with Winter following behind. Turtle ran in shortly after. After Carnelian had died, only the six of them remained. Glory had moved him and Turtle in with Winter and Qibli to save space. Winter was gorgeous too, his glittering snow-white scales and ice blue eyes shone with a fierce passion, but in Umber’s eyes he couldn’t compete with Qibli, and the Icewing’s personality was just so… cold. 

Winter stepped lightly onto his pedestal on the other side of Qibli and began arguing with him over some moot point right away, Qibli rebutting his arguments wittily. The two girls sat to the right of Umber, Kinkajou continuing to attempt to infect the introverted Moon with her over-enthusiastic personality. The Rainwing’s colors had shifted to an eye-burning shade of yellow and pink, probably a signal that she was excited over something else.  _ Again.  _

Clay flew in a moment later, gliding in from one of the openings in the roof of the cavern. He was clutching chickens in both of his front talons, both recently killed. As his brother sat down in the front of the classroom, he smiled at him kindly, offering him a chicken. Umber chuckled lightly and refused, after all, he wasn’t eternally hungry like Clay was.

“Alright guys!” Clay’s voice boomed across the room, albeit slightly muffled by the chickens in his mouth. “I thought that we’d do a hunting exercise today!”

Umber rolled his eyes. “Of course you would say that, haven’t you eaten enough already?”

Clay was unaffected by the statement, stuffing the last chicken in his mouth as he replied unabashedly with a slightly muffled “No!”

Qibli chuckled, and Umber half-turned towards the Sandwing, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. Then Umber blushed and looked away.

_ Did he think that was funny? I hope he thought that was funny.  _

Turtle was as quiet as ever, and Winter was grumbling about something again. 

Kinkajou sighed. “Do we  _ have  _ to? Why can’t just eat  _ fruit _ ? Fruit is healthy. Fruit is-”

The Rainwing was cut off mid sentence by Moon laying a gentle claw on her wing. The Nightwing spoke softly and gently.“It’s fine. I’m sure you can just watch today, but you probably  _ should  _ learn eventually. It’s a useful skill to have.”

Clay smiled at the two of them, then got up. “Alright then, let’s go!”

Their winglet lifted off and flew out of the cavern, Clay leading the way. Umber, eager to impress Qibli, managed to successfully kill two mountain goats and a grouse. Moon, however, did even better. She was a silent shadow of death, easily swooping down in a dive and killing her target before the animal even noticed.

Still, every time that Qibli congratulated him he felt his heart warm slightly, a blush lightly covering his face the entire time they were hunting. Qibli’s claws brushed his own as Umber handed the Sandwing the grouse he had caught. It was like a spark, a fire, a bolt of lightning, his talon warm against Umber’s own.

The connection lingered for a while until Umber pulled away, diving downwards so Qibli didn’t see the blush on his face. Was that on purpose? Did Qibli like him? Or was it just a fleeting moment, just a mistake or a passing touch.

Umber’s mind was whirling with thoughts when he returned to his room, only to remember that he was clawmates with Turtle, Winter,  _ and  _ Qibli now. He never would escape the gorgeous Sandwing, would he?

He sighed, turning from the now-empty cavern to go to his new rooms. Once there, he settled onto the dirt and mud patch that served as his bed. The others weren’t in their new room yet. It  _ was  _ bigger than their previous rooms, as it had to fit all four of them, but was still a bit cramped. His scrolls had been moved from his old cave to a rack beside his bed, and he ran his fingers over the wood and paper, pulling one out to read: It was an old story, but one that Umber liked. He read for a while before getting up to go eat.

The prey cavern was as loud and crowded as ever, and Umber’s plan was to run in, grab some, food and escape. However, Qibli somehow managed to pick him out of the crowd and waved the Mudwing over to where he was sitting on the ground, eating.

Moon and Kinkajou were already sitting with him, both munching on mangos and bananas while Qibli ate a mountain goat. Umber snagged a pawful of chickens and joined them with a smile on his face. He was going to eat alone, but his winglet  _ did  _ relax him. With the exception of Qibli, of course. Whenever he was around, Umber’s heart did flip flops in his chest. He thought it would be okay this time though, and sat next to the Sandwing, crouching on the floor as he ate a chicken.

The four of them talked and laughed for a while, Winter and Turtle joining them halfway through their meal. It was the most fun Umber had had in awhile, the incident with Sora trying to… kill Icicle having put a damper on everyone’s mood.

Over the course of the meal, Qibli and Umber edged closer to each other unconsciously, until their tails touched, a jolt of electricity running through Umber’s body. He froze, and both of them whipped their tails away

Umber looked at Qibli the same time he looked at him. Their eyes met, and the hints of a blush could be seen across the Sandwing’s face, the faint suggestion of red accenting Qibli’s light sand colored scales quite well. 

Umber was sure that his own face was on fire as well, but he didn’t care in that moment, not at all. They started eating again, and their tails began to wind together again after time, Qibli careful to not let his tail-barb touch Umber’s scales

Umber and his clawmates all went back to their room, Moon and Kinkajou returning to their own room. His face was still burning red from what had happened during the meal, and he and Qibli both avoided eye contact when they settled onto their beds, both too embarrassed to speak about it. 

Qibli’s bed area was directly across from Umber’s, and they both slept with their back to each other, facing the cavern wall. Umber could hardly fall asleep, his heart was pounding and he could  _ feel _ his cheeks burning.

He doubted Qibli was the same, he wasn’t even sure Qibli liked him. He may have blushed earlier, during mealtime, but that didn’t mean anything. It could have just been a fluke. Qibli was a brave Sandwing soldier, loyal protector of Queen Thorn. Umber doubted that Qibli was ever afraid or nervous of anything, he was always so confident and brave… 

Umber drifted off to sleep thinking about Qibli. Unbeknownst to him, directly across from him, Qibli was thinking almost identical thoughts.

The next day was normal enough, and Umber simply went through it in a haze of emotions. He didn’t know what to think about Qibli anymore. Did what happened yesterday mean that the Sandwing reciprocated his feelings? Or was he reading too much into it?

The Mudwing groaned in frustration, banging his head against the wall of the tunnel. That caused a couple other passing dragons to look at him strangely, and he waved them on, unfolding his wings to fly.

It was beginning to be too much, he thought, gliding across the warm summer sky. He had kept all this emotion bottled up inside of him, and had forgotten how much was hidden himself. Now the bottle was leaking, and the emotions were spilling out, uncontrolled. He  _ had  _ to tell him. Soon.

The Mudwing swooped back down to the mountain entrance. He would approach the Sandwing tonight. Whether or not Qibli liked him, he would find out soon. He had to know, even if it would break his heart. The truth was better than the half-truths and clouded emotions that filled Umber’s heart, at least he thought so.

The rest of that day passed in a blur, the sun setting and dual moons rising across the skies. As their winglet left the prey cavern, Umber ran up to Qibli in the tunnels, tapping him lightly on the shoulder with his wing.

“Qibli… I need to talk to you.”

“What do you need me for?”

Umber cut him off before he could talk more. “Meet me outside the mountain tonight, at the stone perch, when the moon is directly above the mountain.”

Before Qibli could respond, Umber was gone, giving the Sandwing a brief, wane smile before he ran off, hurriedly flying to the library to gather his thoughts. 

He flew outside to the stone perch when he had told Qibli to meet him, and got to the peak a little bit early. Qibli flew up a few minutes later, the dual full moons outlining his golden scales in a halo of light, making them appear almost ethereal. The expression on his face was quirky though, it looked almost… nervous.

Umber fought down the urge to run, nervously stretching out his wings. He shook his head some and cleared his throat.

“You wanted me to come?” 

That devilish smile was back on his face, and Umber gulped, heart beating faster

“Yeah… I have something to tell you.”

Qibli was silent, and the smile faded a bit. He looked a bit nervous now, even.

“I… “

The words caught in his throat.

“Do you like anyone?”

The words came out in a jumble, and Qibli blushed suddenly, looking away. Shyly, he turned back towards Umber, amber earring shining in the moonlight, scales glinting with a dull light. He looked so… vulnerable now. Even more gorgeous than usual, with the blush on his face and eyes shining with deep longing. However, he did not speak. Umber continued, not quite sure what to think about the Sandwing’s lack of a response.

“Qibli. I… “

The moonlight framed Umber’s face as he talked, and Qibli stared into his deep, chocolate eyes. Umber didn’t see any of this, and kept talking, worrying that his courage would fail him at any possible moment.

“I… I love you.”

And it was spoken. Umber hung his head and turned, sure that Qibli would reject him. A tense moment passed, before Umber felt something. Qibli had walked up to him and wrapped his tail around him, gently curling into the Mudwing’s body. The Sandwing’s warm body was like a fire, and Umber’s heartbeat intensified, face burning.

Qibli nuzzled his face gently, and spoke.

“I love you too Umber…”

Umber turned back towards Qibli and they curled up against each other, tails entwined. Umber nuzzled Qibli gently in return, staring into the Sandwing’s deep, golden eyes, tracing his scar with a gentle talon.

And so the two of them slept underneath the stars that night, curled into one another. As the two of them drifted off, they were both nuzzling each other, blushing lightly and smiling contentedly as the moons shone above them


End file.
